Loom



March 6, 1928.

J. NORTHROP LOOM Filed Feb.ll, 1927 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 March 6, 1928. I 1,661,340

' J. NQRTHROP LOOM Filed Feb. 11, 1927 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Mar. 6, 1928.

JONAS .NORTHROR'OF HOPEDALE, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGN- IENTS, TO DRAIER CORPORATION, OF

TION OF MAINE.

HOPEDALE, ,MASSACHUSE'ITS, A CORPORA- LOOK.

Application filed February 11, 1927. Serial No. 167,505.

The present invention relates to an improvement in looms.

The dents of the reed of a loom are rapidly worn by silk warps passing through them during the operation of weaving. In the ordinary construction of silk loom, the reed occupies a fixed position in the lay, and the wear upon the dents comes for the greater part at the bottom shed where the lay moves tangent to the direction of such shed. This wear is so great as to render frequent replacements of the reed necessary. According to the present invention it is proposed to distribute this wear over a considerable length of the reed dents so as thereby to prolong. substantially the life of the reed. To this end the present invention consists in the improvement in looms hereinafter described and particularly defined in the claims.

lin the accompanying drawings illustrating the preferred form of the invention, Fig. 1 is a sectional elevation of a portlon of'a loom showing the lay and the breast beam in transverse section; Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the lay and its supporting means and mechanism carried thereby; and Figs. 3, 4 and 5 illustrate details of construction hereinafter referred to.

The illustrated embodiment of the invention is described as follows: The loom frame 1 supports the breast beam 2, and carries the lay 3 by means of the swords 4, which are supported upon the lay shaft 5. The top sheds 6 and bottom sheds 7 of the unite at the fell to form the cloth being woven, and pass over the breast beam and thence around the guide roll 10 over the sand roll 11, and thence to the cloth roll below. Constant motion of the lay beating back and forth causes the reed 12 to be moved forward and back over the top and bottom sheds, and therefore exposes the reed dents to wear. This wear is distributed over a considerable area of the reed dent surfaces by moving the reed up and down during the weaving. In the preferred embodiment this motion of the reed is a slow, progressive movement up a certain distance and then down. an equal distance, and by repeating continuously during the operation of the loom. This movement of the reed during weaving is slow in the illustrated form of the invention, and secures the distribution of wear over the dents so as thereby greatly to prolong the life of the reed.

The reed 12 is supported in a reed carrier 13: (see Fig. 5) which consists of two channe1-shaped bars at the top and bottom, respectively, united by end pieces 14. To the lower' member of the reed carrier are secured three rods 15, which extend down through holes in the lay. Below the lay each rod 15- carries a block 16 secured to the set screw 25. This arm is pierced with ahole which receives the end of the rod 26 by means of which the reed shaft is oscillated. The rod extends from the reed shaft downward and at its lower end is attached to the eccentric strap 27 which embraces'the eccentric 28, rotatably mounted on' thelay structure and specifically on the lay shaft 5. Between the eccentric strap 27 and eccentric 28 friction material such as felt is interposed. Formed integral with the eccentric 28 is the ratchet wheel 30 (see Fig. 3). The eccentric and ratchet wheel are securedin place by the collar 31, held in fixed position on the lay shaft 5 by the set screw 32, which holds the eccentric and ratchet wheel against one of the bosses 33 of one of the swords 4. The ratchet wheel on the opposite side from the eccentric is provided with a portion of reduced diameter, which receives the-hub 34 of the pawl lever 36. The pawl lever carries a pawl 37 held against the teeth of the ratchet wheel 30 by a spring 38. Means is provided for relatively oscillating the pawl arm 36 with respect to the ratchet wheel so as to advance the latter progressively in the operation of the loom. The-eccentric strap is split, as shown in Figs. land 4, and a spring 35 (see Fig. 4) tends to compress the strap upon the friction material interposed between the strap and the eccentric.

The pawl arm 36 is provided with a hole which receives the right-angularly bent end of the rod 40, which extends upwardlyfrom the arm and is pivotally attached to the rear end of a lever 41, pivoted at 42 on the frame of the machine. The other end 43 of this lever is provided with a cam arm 44, adapted to engage the eccentric cam 45 which is secured to the sand roll, 11, or to the gear 46 connected therewith. Oscillations of the lever 41 due to the actuation of the cam roll 45 raise and lower the pawl arm 36, and thereby cause a complete movement of such pawl arm once for each revolution of the sand roll 11. Thus, in the weaving of cloth in the loom, for every rotation of the sand roll the ratchet wheel is advanced one tooth, and there being 24 teeth on this ratchet wheel, for every 24 revolutions of the sand roll the eccentric will be rotated once, and the reed will be caused to execute a complete movement from any iven point to the end of its stroke in one irection and then in the opposite direction to the end of its stroke and back to its initial point.

While it is convenient as above to refer to the actuation of the ratchet by the pawl arm as bein one tooth for each rotation of the sand roll, t e actual movement of the reed is progressive and made up of increments of extremely small length, since with the heating movements of the lay back and forward, the actual advancingmovements of the ratchet wheel are due to the impingement of the faces of the teeth of the ratchet wheel against the end of the pawl, rather than due to the movements of the pawl. That is to say, the pawl arm slowly and continuously moves upward, for example, and one of the teeth of the ratchet wheel at eachbeat ot' the lay engages the end of the pawl, every engagement causing a slight advance of the ratchet wheel owing to the slight advance of the pawl as the sand wheel revolves. This movement continues until the pawl arm 36 reaches the top of its stroke, whereupon the pawl arm would gradually and step by step move back to its lowermost position. During this retracting movement of the pawl arm the reed stands still because the awl is moving away each time farther rom the tooth which it had previously repeatedly engaged in order to advance it to the position in which it was left when the pawl arm reached the top of its stroke. As a result of this, the movement of the reed is a series of steps due to the incremental advances of the ratchet wheel during the upward movement of the pawl arm, each step bein of very slight length. Then the reed stands fast for an equal length of time while the pawl arm is returned to its lowermost. osition, after which the reed is again fed orward as before. The reed, therefore, moves by means of successive small increments in one direction, as for example upward, and then stands fast for an equal length of time until the pawl comes back again to its lowermost position and takes a ainst the next succeeding tooth, after wiich the reed again moves by means of successive small increments, but this time its motion is in the opposite direction. The reed moves upwardly, of course, during the time the center of the eccentric is moving from a point below the lay shaft until it reaches a point above the lay shaft. Then the reed dwells, or stands fast, for an equal length of time and beginsits movement in the opposite direction and continues that movement until the center of the eccentric reaches its original position, whereupon it again dwells, or stands fast, for an equal length of time, after which the cycle is repeated.

It will thus be seen that the reed moves slowly upwardly, rests, moves slowly downwardly and rests, and so continues during the operation of the loom, with the result that the wear upon the dents of the reed owing to the reciprocations of the reed over the warps is distributed over a length of reed dent surface equal to twice the throw of the eccentric which aetuatcs the reed.

The reed carrier 13 is made with a separable top section, removably held in place on the end pieces 14 by means of the latches 50, which are onc-sided buttons and are adapted when they occupy the position shown in Fig. 5, to hold the upper section of the reed carrier in position, and when turned in the opposite direction to register with slots in the end of the upper section, so that the latter may he removed. In preparing a loom for weaving, the warp is put in place and the reed is dropped into the lower channel section of the reed carrier, then the upper section is put in place and secured in such position b the buttons 50. 'lhereupon the slotted rcet bar 51 is dropped down upon the upper section of the reed carrier into the position shown in Fig. l, and clamped in such position by the wing nuts 52 of the bolts by which the bar 51 is held in place.

Havingthus described the invention, what is claimed is:

1. A loom having, in combination, a lay a reed, and means for moving the reed slowly up and down during the operation of the loom, including a pawl and ratchet, means for supporting the ratchet for movement by the lay relativel to the pawl but through a distance insu cient to turn the ratchet one tooth, and eccentric means for slowly shifting the pawl in a direction to rotate the ratchet whereby the ratchet is rotated by a stroke of the lay through a distance that is only a fraction of the distance from one ratchet tooth to the next.

2. A loom having, in combination, a lay, a reed, and means for moving the reed slowly up and down during the operationof the lay toward and from the other but through a distance insufficient to turn the ratchet member one tooth, and means for slowly shifting the other member as the lay goes back and forth to effect rotation of the ratchet member through successive increments each being less than the distance from one tooth to the next.

3. A loom having in combination, a lay provided with a supporting lay shaft, a reed, and means for moving the reed slowly up and down during the operation of the loom, including a ratchet mounted on the lay shaft to rotate with said shaft, a pawl supported so that it does not partake of the rocking movement imparted to the ratchet by the lay shaft, and means for periodically ad- Vancing the pawl through successiye incre ments each of which is only a fraction of the distance from one ratchet tooth to the next.

4. A loom having in combination, a lay, a reed, and means for moving the reed slowly up and down during the operation of the loom, including a ratchet mounted to partake of the movement of the lay, a pawl supported so that it does not partake of the lay movement but engages a ratchet tooth as the ratchet is advanced by the lay movement, and means operable independently of the lay for slowly shifting the pawl to rotate the ratchet so that a number of lay strokes occur during the rotation of the ratchet through the distance of one tooth.

5. A loom having in combination, a lay, a reed, and means for moving the reed slowly up and down during the operation of the loom, including a pawl and ratchet, and means for slowly shiftlng the pawl during the loom operation so that a number of lay strokes occur during the rotation of the ratchet through the distance of one tooth.

6. A loom having in combination, a lay, a'

reed, and means for moving the reed slowly up and down during the operation of the loom, including a pawl and ratchet, and means for periodically advancing the pawl minute distances so that a number of lay strokes occur during the rotation of the ratchet by the pawl through the distance of one tooth.

7. A loom having in combination, a lay, a reed, a sand roll, and means for moving the reed slowly up and down during the operation of the loom, including a pawl and ratchet, an eccentric mounted to rotate with the,sand roll and operable to slowly shift the pawl to rotate the ratchet so that a number of lay strokes occur during the rotation of the ratchet through the distance of one tooth.

8. 'A loom having in combination, a lay provided with a lay shaft, a reed, take-up mechanism, and means for moving the reed slowly up and down during the operation of the loom including a ratchet mounted upon the lay shaft to rock with said shaft, a pawl supported so that it does not partake of the lay shaft movement and means operable by the loom take-up mechanism for slowly shifting the pawl in a direction to rotate the ratchet and arranged so that a number of 'lay strokes occur during the rotation of the ratchet through the distance of one tooth.

In witness whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

JONAS NORTHROP. 

